Stereo Help

[Take5]

Hello All,

I just picked up a leftover 2019 230 SAN on Saturday. We decided not to wait on our custom order, and we were lucky enough to find a great match for us. My family’s first Nautique, and we couldn’t be happier. We are having an issue with the stereo. There is a hiss and tick whenever the stereo is on. It does not matter if music is playing or the source. The interference and tick is always there unless the stereo is turned off. I can take it back to the dealer under warranty, but I wanted to see if anyone has had this problem. I also wanted to ask about upgrading the amps. My research tells me that the system is underpowered with the 600w and 400w m series amps. The boat has the six cockpit speakers, single sub, and 4 8.8’s on the tower. I am leaning toward purchasing the JL Mvi amps. I was thinking the 800w 4 channel for the tower speakers for sure and maybe the 5 channel 1000w for the bow/cockpit and sub. Please let me know if anyone has experience and can give me some advice. Music while out on the water is very important to me. It is disappointing the factory doesn’t tune these stereos before sending the boats out to their dealers. Especially when they advertise doing so. I have read that the depth finder can cause the tick in some cases. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[bturner]

Not sure how Nautique does it but MC tunes the systems (at least they did with the JL systems) as part of dealer prep. I was told it was to ensure proper tuning at the time of delivery as things get bounced around when you're delivering boats hundreds of miles away. At least that was what I was told some years ago.

As to the issues you're experiencing...... Most all noise in a stereo on a boat can be traced back to a bad ground or ground differential issue, sometimes know as a ground loop. There can be many causes for this most being created by not properly tying the ground circuits together, a bad or marginal ground cable or poorly designed ground circuit. While less likely a bad electrical component could introduce noise in the circuit as well. The first step in looking for low hanging fruit for a DYI solution would be to "nut and bolt" all the power connections starting at the engine block, then to the battery, proceeding to the bus bars to the dash and stereo and ending with the individual electrical components and stereo. While doing this also closely examine all the cables and connectors for any damage or improperly constructed components. Hopefully you'll find a smoking gun quickly in the process as this can all take time.

If all the above results in no joy the next step that I've used is what we used to call "reduce to the ridiculous". The idea here is to isolate the stereo from the rest of the boat and see if the problem goes away. If it does you know you have a problem outside the stereo itself, if it doesn't you know you have a problem with either the wiring or one of the stereo components. If the latter is the case you can pare down the stereo to just the head unit of the stereo and 2 speakers then add amps and speaker to the mix testing for issues as components are added.

Lastly while upgrading your existing system may seem fairly straight forward as simply swapping out components be careful with this thought process and be sure to think it through thoroughly. Stereo systems are just that, systems. Ancillary components like breakers, cabling, bus bars and even batteries and charging systems can all play a part of a properly designed, quality installation. Moving up in power many times will require heavier gauge wire, higher rated breakers and depending on how crazy you get can require more batteries and an upgraded charging system on the boat to keep up with the new higher wattage system. The good news is that there are always people looking for good used JL gear (I know I'd love that 400/4 amp) so there is some value in the gear that you'll be pulling out.


Good luck!

[MLA]

Single 10" woofer? if so, 300W rms from the M600/1 is not under powered by any means. Thats a good spot for the M10IB. The MVi1000/5 would only yield 100W rms more for the woofer. Not an audible difference IMO. Id add a second 10IB to the M600/1

6 in-boats and 4 towers? Seems you are missing the M800/8 that goes in for the towers. Might be worth pulling the amps' turn-on wires one at a time, to see what amps are driving what speakers.

The rms of the M400/4 and the full range chnls of the MVi1000/5 are the same. So no wattage (volume) advantage there.

[Take5]

Thank you for the replies. I am confused by your response MLA. Please help me understand if you don't mind. My understanding is that the 600W 6 channel amp is powering the 6 6.5" M3 speakers that occupy the bow and cockpit as well as the 10" sub. The 4 channel 400W amp is powering the 4 8.8 tower speakers. The 4 channel amp pushes 75 rms at 4 ohm per tower speaker according to JL's website. I think I need double that to properly power the 8.8's. I realized I only have 60A breakers for the amps. The M800/8 asks for an 80A so I guess I can't use it. I am now leaning toward the JL MHD 600W 4 channel amp that will push 150W rms at 4 ohm to each tower speaker. I don't have the patience to figure out what is causing the tick/interference. I'm going to have the dealer try to fix it under warranty. If they can get the system to sound clear like it should have from the factory, I'll look to add some additional power to the tower speakers. I will let you know if I replace the 4 channel amp bturner. I will not have a use for it. I was hoping someone would have experience with inference issues from the factory stereo and how it was fixed. Thank you for your time.

[MLA]

Sorry for any confusion, this sometimes happens when marketing numbers are used, rather then actual amp model numbers.

The last JL amp equipped G I was in had the 600W M600/1 drives the woofer(s) and the 800W M800/8 drives the tower speakers whether is came with one or two pair. I thought it had the M400/4 but it could have had the M600/6. My dealings with this boat did not involve the in-boats, so I did not pay very close attention to this in-boats amp.

Bottom line, it had 3 amps. One mono, one 8 chnl bridged into 4 chnls and a 3rd amp. You indicated your boat only has 2 amps. Seems to be missing one based on my past experience.

[bturner]

That same amp set up was very popular with the MasterCraft boats for years until they switched to Klipsch. This is the way I've seen several of them set up.....

JL 600/6 Channel Assignment

• 4 cockpit speakers on 600/6 amp, one per channel
• Sub woofer bridged across two channels on the 600/6
• Total channels used - 6

JL 400/4 Channel Assignment

• 2 bow speakers on JL 400/4, one per channel
• 2 tower speakers on JL 400/4, one per channel
• Total channels used - 4

No clue how Nautique is doing it but the above set up made sense, at least to me. Everything in the cockpit was on a single amp. Everything outside was on another single amp. Makes troubleshooting pretty easy. I still set my installations up this way.

I agree with you on that 800/8. That puppy really pulls the power. I took a quick look at the installation manual and saw this....

Many vessels employ small (10 AWG - 6 AWG)
wire to connect the alternator’s positive
connection to the battery. To prevent voltage
drops, this wire should be upgraded to 4 AWG
when installing amplifier systems with main
fuse ratings above 60A

As stated before, things can start getting involved with the real high powered stuff and everything needs to function as a complete system.

[Beach-TJ]

The JL MHD 600W is a great amp for 2 pair of 8.8s. I've been running that set up for several years, works great. Just remember to set the crossover, there 8" mids, not subs. Think i have mine set at 55 hrtz, maybe 60.

[Take5]

Thank you for the input. I've decided to schedule a warranty claim to get the stereo fixed. I do not feel like crawling in the compartment and trouble shooting it. I'll worry about upgrading the amps after they resolve the issues from the factory. Thanks for letting me know the JL MDHD 600W will work well TJ. I'm debating on pulling both amps and replacing them with two JL 800W 8CH MVI's. I am thinking use one to power the six cockpit speakers and 10" sub. 100W RMS to each 6.5 inch speaker and 200W RMS to the 10 inch sub will be more power than they are getting now. Bridge the second 8 channel amp to 4 channels so each of the 4 8.8 tower speakers gets 200W RMS. I'll need to figure out how to upgrade the 60A breakers if I go this route. It would be nice if I could replace them with two 80A breakers. Does anyone know where I could buy two 80A breakers that would fit in the existing breaker panel on a 2019 230 or is possible to put a 150A breaker like the G boats have in a 230 breaker panel?

[bturner]

Depends on what the breaker looks like and who made it. Here's some from Klixon.....

http://www.webmail.sensata.jobs/down...al-catalog.pdf

Genuinedealz sells a lot of the breakers I've used in the past but many look out of stock on. You may want to give them a call or you could use their part numbers to do a search on the breaker you need.

https://www.genuinedealz.com/marine-...pply?cat=7&p=1

[MLA]

800/8 would deliver 75W rms @ 4 ohm x 8, so 75W to each in-boat.

In order to properly bridge the 800/8 into 4 chnl mode for four full-range speakers, you need to populate all 8 pre-amp inouts. This = 6 RCA Y cables. WAY TOO MANY extra connections IMO. Id go with a 2 chnl amp.